


QMS 1

by Deacon_Heller



Series: Quantum Mirror Series [1]
Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26935225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deacon_Heller/pseuds/Deacon_Heller
Summary: SG 10 teams up with a Tok'ra agent to extract another Tok'ra from enemy territory.
Series: Quantum Mirror Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965412
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	QMS 1

The stargate opened and broke the natural sounds of the jungle around it. Sgt. Ford was the first human to set foot on the planet. He glanced around carefully and walked down the steps towards the probe, realized there was no one to be seen in the ruins that surround the area. He relaxed his grip on his M-4 and took his MARPAT boonie off to scratched his head. 

Lance Corporal Jefferson followed behind Ford, carrying an M249. He was just as tall as Ford but not nearly as thickly muscled. Next came Corporal Ward, who was only five ten but looked like an amateur body builder. Colton Hayes, the civilian science specialist, known as Colt to the team, stumbled through the Ring and dropped the large black plastic cases he was carrying to throw his arms up after he broke through the event horizon. Colt stood almost six feet tall, his short blond hair stuck out from under his boonie.

"Wooooo!" Colt yelled. His rifle dangled in front of him against the portable computer scanning unit strapped to his chest. 

Private First Class Madison, was the last one through the gate. "Did he just 'wooo' again?" Madison asked Ward. 

"Yup." 

"Seriously, every planet?" Madison said to Colt. 

"Are you kidding? We're living a sci fi show. If we find a planet with lightsabers I'm never going home," Colt said. 

"I read about what you did, and I don't think they're ever letting you go back to Earth," Ford said checking the probe.

"That...that's not cool," Colt mumbled, as he frowned and stepped away from the gate.

"What did he do?" Ward asked Madison.

"Don't worry about what I did, worry about what you're doing," Colt tried to change the subject.

"Let's just say it was prison or the military," Ford grinned, as he started looking around the gate plaza.

"I didn't think they still did that," Ward said.

"Jefferson, on the Ring. Ward and Madison set up a perimeter. Colt, get Hansel in the air. I want to know if there's anyone still here," Ford said in a low gravelly voice. 

Colt turned around and looked at the stepped pyramid that eclipsed both suns. It was narrow and tall. 

"Oh my God!" Colt yelled with laughter. "Ahhhhhhhhh haa haa haaaaaa! 

The ring stood in the center of a long rectangular plaza that was lined with temples, terraces, and obelisks. Beside the DHD stood a rectangular tablet two feet wide and eight feet tall. On it were carved reliefs of gate addresses. At the very bottom of the stelae was the address for that world. 

Flanking the plaza stood two massive and long temple complexes. Directly behind the ring was a massive pyramid stepped in nine sections that towered above everything else in the city reaching nearly one thousand feet high. Beyond the city was a jungle that reached up two hundred feet towards both suns. The sky was a hazy reddish color as opposed to the brilliant blue of Earth. Beside the sky this could have been one of a dozen cities in Central America. 

"This is amazing. These ruins are almost perfectly intact. In fact... I wouldn't even call these ruins. It looks more like an abandoned city. I count a dozen pyramids, temples, stelae. This city looks perfectly intact. There should be people around somewhere," Colt said.

"Can you speak, what is it, Mayan?" Ford asked Colt.

"Not even a little. I wonder why there's no one here." 

"Get Hansel in the air and tell me why," Ford said, as he walked away.

Colt dropped both the heavy black plastic cases he was carrying and got to work. Five minutes later Colt had the quadcopter drone unpacked and hovering in the air in front of his face. Colt wore a very thin portable computer strapped to his chest. He had it folded down with the monitor and keyboard open as he used his thumbs to operate the two small sticks on the sides of the keyboard to control the remote drone that he nicknamed Hansel. 

Colt was looking at himself on the screen and announced, "We're good here."

Colt sent the drone up into the air. When it reached an altitude of five hundred feet he slowly spun the camera around. It displayed a massive city around them that stretched out for almost two miles in every direction surrounded by a dense canopy. Colt examined the city around them and found smaller temples, ball courts, buildings of differing sizes, wells and cisterns but no people. Beyond the jungle canopy Colt say several more cities in the distance marked by pyramids reaching up from the jungle. After an hour he brought Hansel back down.

"Anything?" Ford asked as he approached Colt. 

"Tons of stuff, buildings, temples and jungle, but no people. I haven't seen anyone but us."

"Neither have we."

"Any signs of what happened?"

"We found some scorch marks and other signs of fighting, but it looks like it was years ago."

"Goa'uld?" 

"Most likely. If it was them it looks like they killed everyone or took them someplace else," Ford said. "Madison found a series of tunnels under one of the temples, he thinks it connects them all to each other. He said it's worth a look."

"Hansel's battery is about done, so I'll get Gretel and we'll take a look."

Colt followed Ford inside the massive pyramid. Once inside they took out their flashlights and followed the trail of glow sticks Ward left behind in the wide corbel arched tunnel until they caught up with him and Jefferson at the first junction of corridors. Colt activated Gretel and sent her down the tunnel into the darkness. 

"Switching to infrared," Colt said as he sat down on a stone block that had fallen from the wall. Rows of reliefs stretched along the stone walled tunnels periodically interrupted by burnt out torches. Colt created a three dimensional model of the tunnels as the drone floated along. He suspected Madison was right in his assessment that all the buildings above were connected by these tunnels. 

The squad waited for half an hour in silence. Ward was the first one to see it. He nudged Jefferson and pointed at the fifteen inch wide scorpion creeping across the wall towards Colt. Jefferson nudged Ford and pointed. 

"Colt?" Ford asked casually.

"Yeah?"

"Are you allergic to anything?"

"Not that I know of, why?" Colt said, without looking up from the screen. 

"You're not allergic to bee stings, or spider bites, or any kind of insects are you?" 

"No, thank God. My jerk brother shoved me into a bush when we were kids, and it was basically just one big hive. I got stung like twenty five times."

The scorpion was just three feet behind him now. Jefferson turned around and Ward tore the velcro pouch off the back of his belt and unzipped it. He took out the emergency adrenaline injection. 

"Well that's good, because I need to tell you something, and I need to you to be very calm when I say it."

"Hang on, I see something. I looks like...a giant insect. I'm going to zoom in on it," Colt hovered Gretel over the creature. "Oh man, this thing is huge. It kind looks like a scorpion. It must be the size of a chihuahua."

"I'd say more like the size of a corgi," Ward said with a grin.

"So, you need to put Gretel on the ground for a second and stand up," Ford said, as he slowly drew his knife, and approached Colt. 

"I can't put Gretel down next to this thing it looks like it's going to..." The scorpion sprang down on Colt, and he instantly jumped up screaming and flailing. Jefferson and Ward stepped back while Ford tried to grab Colt. The scorpion stung Colt in the neck and shoulders while he screamed. When Colt tripped over the stone he was sitting on he crushed the scorpion by landing one it. Ford grabbed him and pulled him up to his feet and jerked his MARPAT blouse open to look at the stings. Ward stepped in and stabbed Colt in the neck with the adrenalin and then stepped back. 

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I got stung by an alien bug. You think it laid eggs in me? Is one of them gonna pop out of my chest?"

"Don't worry, the big ones aren't usually poisonous," Ford said calmly. "Let's pack it up, we're going back to the gate," We'll come back for Gretel later. Ward, grab one of those scorpions if you can. Doctor Forester will want a live specimen." 

"Already got one Sergeant," Ward said, as he held up another scorpion by the tail.

They took Colt back to the gate and dialed the SGC. After they dropped him off with the doctors they met with General Parkman in the briefing room. 

"As the probe showed on its first trip the planet did at one time have human life," Ford said, as he pointed a remote control at the TV and started the video that Hansel took. "We found temples, pyramids, and all kinds of other buildings, all of them were almost completely intact. There were signs that the Goa'uld killed or captured everyone. Either way we didn't see any signs of survivors." 

"Did you see anything of cultural or scientific value?" General Parkman asked. 

"Unless the scorpion that stung Colt turns out to have some kind of super toxin, no, not really. But this planet could be good for something else."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We've been talking about setting up a forward base of operations off planet, and I think this could be a good place for it. The Goa'uld haven't been there in years, they don't have any use for the planet, and they think that the entire population is dead."

"Also, it looks and smells like Mexico," Ward added.

"The IOA has been pushing for an off world site to test weapons," General Parkman said out loud. "I'll pass it on to the president, thank you. SG 10 is on stand down until Colt is cleared for duty. If the president approves I'll be sending you back for further exploration." 

"Yes sir," Ford answered as they got up with General Parkman. 

"How is he?" Ford asked Doctor Forester.

"The insect that stung him wasn't venomous but he'll have some swelling and inflammation for a few days."

"Thanks," Ford turned to Colt. "So, Doc says this thing laid some eggs and you've got about two days before they come out of your ears." 

"Shut up."

"Maybe even your eyes. They might have to chew their way out." 

"Whatever, where we going next?"

"Probable the same place. I'll get you some bug spray."

"Why are we going back there?"

"General Parkman thinks it might be a good place to set up a forward base. Once you're cleared we'll be going back to do a more extensive sweep of the planet." 

"Aw, man."

"Cheer up, they named that scorpion after you, Coltus Dumassikus." 

"Jealous."

"Pack sunscreen this time, we'll be there for a while." Ford said, as he walked away.

Two days later Colt carried his cases into the gate room and stopped between his squad and four civilians. The SGC sent three scientists and a cultural anthropologist with them. It was a common procedure to bring in extra personnel when they found an attractive planet. It also meant a lot more gear. This time they drove two six wheeled utility vehicles packed with hard cases and gear.

Ford was waiting by the gate on the other side when Colt came through last. 

"No woo?"

"I already 'woo'd' this planet, besides this place sucks."

"Learn to love it, I think we're going to be here a while," Ford said. 

Six months later. 

Colt walked through the gate and took a deep breath as he walked down the steps. SG 10 followed him through the gate into the stone plaza that surrounded it. The worlds' two suns baked the stone and made the heat a jarring change from the cool dark of the SGC on Earth. 

"Hello S.G.C.F.B.A.," Colt said out loud. "You guys and your acronyms. Stargate Command Forward Base Alpha. So I guess General Parkman wouldn't get behind El Dorado. It sounds so much better, the city of gold."

"Alright, stow your gear and meet me in the command center in ten," Ford said, as he handed off his own bags and headed west towards the series of temples and buildings that had been named Temple Complex A. 

Colt followed the rest of SG 10 around the gate and back over to Gate Temple One. It was a small pyramid shaped temple northwest of the gate in the plaza. It was five hundred feet from the gate. Ford suggested that all the teams stay in the temples on the plaza closest to the gate. Colt argued to get the top floor, a move he regretted the first time he had to take his gear up three flights of dangerously steep stairs. The squad all shared one large room that had several open windows that looked down on the plaza and the gate. 

Colt quickly dropped his gear by his bed and dug through his long duffel bag to pull out a cardboard tube. He popped the lid off and pulled out several prints and schematics and leafed through them for a poster. He pulled open the doors on the sheet metal cabinet next to his bed and grabbed a roll of duct tape. He taped the poster over his rack. It read "Chaotic Good: Because sometimes the right thing to do is murder everyone in the room". 

Ten minutes later Colt and the rest of his squad were sitting in the Command briefing room, Colt was sweating and getting used to the heat again. A drop of sweat trickled down his back as they waited for Brigadier General Willis. He finally entered the room with two men behind him. General Willis was a little shorter than Colt. His head and face were always clean shaven, and though he was in his late fifties he was still in fighting form. Everyone stood up and waited for the general to sit before they sat back down. 

"Gentlemen. These are two new additions to the base. This is Merric slash Balin. He's a Tok'ra agent, and he has the authority to speak for the interests of the Tok'ra High Council. You'll be working with him from now on, coordinating operations and providing support," Everyone nodded as Willis pointed to the man beside him in the tan Tok'ra uniform. 

"And this is an advisor from back home," The other man was a only five ten, and he wore a tan linen suite which stood out among all the people in uniform. His hair was short, his sunglasses were tinted a rose color, and his smile was wide and toothy. He stood up and shook Ford's hand. "I can't tell you how excited I am to be here with you."

"What does 'advisor from back home' mean?" Colt asked him. 

"It means you can call me Michael." 

Colt flashed a confused look at Ford.

"He's CIA," Ford said casually.

"I don't work for anyone directly," Mike said. 

"Definitely a spook," Ford said. "So what is he doing here?"

"He's here to advise on human espionage. It was suggested that the SGC bring in one of our own in hopes to expedite the Tok'ra efforts to sabotage the Goa'uld. Merric will help him catch us up on the politics and tactics of the Tok'ra" Willis said. 

"An alien and a spook walk into a bar..." Colt started. Ford kicked him in the shin. "Ow!" 

"We're happy to help any way we can, and we are honored to have the support of the Tok'ra. What do we do first?" Ford said. 

"We will be undertaking a dangerous mission to retrieve something for the Tok'ra. I fear it will be highly dangerous," Merric said in a deep and nasally voice.

"Dangerous is what we do," Ford said.

"We are going to gate to a world where I have a Jaffa contact who is going to provide us with what we will need to move about the world freely," Merric said. 

"I'll be coming along as an observer," Mike said.

"Sir, is this a good idea?" Ford asked Willis.

"He's going," Willis said calmly.

"Yes, Sir." 

"You leave in one hour. Dismissed," Willis said, as he stood up. 

"See you in an hour," Ford said, as he stood up.

When they returned to their quarters in the plaza temple Ford finally spoke. "We take nothing that can identify us as Tau'ri," They took off their MARPAT blouses and put their dog tags in the metal cabinets by their beds. 

Five minutes later they were in the courtyard in front of the gate. Five minutes after that they were sneaking through a forest under the cover of night. After a quick twenty minute hike through the forest they stood before a small house. Merric knocked quietly, and the door quickly opened. Inside they waited as Merric spoke with the young Jaffa. Then he pulled back a carpet to reveal a trap door in the wooden floor. He opened it, and climbed down the ladder. A second later he was handing up bundles of Jaffa armor and staff weapons. 

Once they were dressed, the young Jaffa applied the mark of Ba'al to their foreheads. The Jaffa spoke quickly to Merric once more and ushered them out of the house. They went back into the forest and took a different path. They stopped on the edge of the city so Merric could tell them the details of the mission. 

"We are going in to locate and escort one of our sources out," Merric said. 

"Is he a Tok'ra?" Ford asked. 

"I can't divulge that," Merric said. 

Ford said nothing. Instead, he signaled his squad to follow Merric. They all fell into step behind him and entered the city. It wasn't what Colt would have called a city. There were a few stone buildings scattered around the area surrounded by dozens of smaller wood buildings and thatched huts. It was lit by torches set on iron racks. People walked around, just going about their lives and ignored Colt and his squad as they passed. The only Jaffa that he saw were standing by the doors of the biggest stone buildings.

The mission was easy at first. Follow Merric, look mean, and don't say anything. For Colts first mission behind enemy lines he was actually enjoying it. The seven of them entered a small single story open air temple on the crest of a hill. Colt thought it looked vaguely Greek. It was deserted except from an old priest kneeling before an altar flanked with torches and incense burners. 

Merric signaled the squad to stand at the front of the temple. Then he went inside and spoke to the old priest. Merric escorted the priest out of the temple and signaled the squad to follow. They took a different path back through the city towards the gate. Colt watched the people out of the corner of his eye. If he wasn't on an alien planet dressed as an alien soldier this could have been any one of a dozen villages in ancient Greece.

Colt became so comfortable he didn't notice the situation at the gate until they were a part of it. Merric stopped abruptly about thirty feet from the Gate. Twelve Jaffa rushed them and flanked the squad with staff weapons casually trained on them. 

Colt glanced sideways at the Ma'tok, and tried not to show any fear. He knew that it was up to Merric now, and if he couldn't talk his way past these Jaffa then they would have to shoot their way out. Colt stood at the rear left of the six man formation with Michael just beside him. Colt hoped that spook knew how to use the staff weapon he was holding. 

Colt watched as the Jaffa near the gate dragged a man before the squad. Colts stomach knotted when he saw it was the Jaffa that gave them the uniforms. His mind quickly went through the facts. The Jaffa stopped them, but didn't fire on them, so they didn't know who they were yet. The young Jaffa was beaten, but he didn't give them up. The Jaffa figured out that there were imposters on the planet and they were searching everyone before they went off world. 

Colt stood at the rear so he would take the two Jaffa to the far left. Ward stood in front of Colt, he would be taking the two Jaffa in the center of the line. Ahead of him was Ford. He would take the two on the far right of the line. If they lived through that firefight then they would still have to shoot their way through the other six Jaffa by the gate. 

Colt listened to Merric, but it was quickly escalating into a shouting match. Plan B was looking more likely by the second. Colt thought about MIT for a second, and the orientation lecture for his first day in college, and he decided that this was so much better. 

Ford fired first and the rest of the squad opened fire. It was a quick fire fight, the Jaffa that flanked them did not expect such a precise response. The Jaffa by the gate were not taken so easily. Every one scrambled and fired. Merric grabbed the priest and shielded him with his own body as they rushed behind the DHD. Colt noticed it but stayed focused. He caught a blast to his right shoulder. His armor took most of the damage but his shoulder still exploded in burning pain. 

The firefight was over quickly. Jefferson dialed the gate while Ford and Madison took up firing positions on each side of it. Colt ran towards the gate and saw that Merric was struggling with the priest so he turned and helped drag him through the gate. Michael fired over and around them into the forest. He knew how to use the plasma staff. 

The gate opened and they all sprinted through. It closed behind them as a plasma blast buzzed just past Colts left ear. He flinched and rolled down the stone stairs onto the plaza and looked up at the two suns overhead. 

"Owwwww!" Colt said, as he laid there and checked the rest of his body. 

"Sound off," Ford said, as he stood up. "Madison?"

"Good."

"Jefferson?"

"I'm good." 

"Ward?"

"I'm good Sergeant."

"Merric, how is he?"

"He was struck with a plasma blast, he needs medical attention." 

"Ward and Jefferson help him. Mike, you alright?" Ford asked. 

"I'm fine. I'll go with Merric."

"I'm good, a little shot, but I'm good," Colt said to Ford. "Thanks for asking."

"Of course you are. Go to medical," Ford said, as he walked away. 

Colt sat on a gurney talking to the nurse as he peeled off the Jaffa armor. "Yeah, I got shot, no big deal. All in a day's work."

The nurse was a pretty young woman with bleached blond hair pulled tight into a knot on the back of her head. She just nodded her head because Colt flirted with all the women on the base. She bandaged his shoulder and sent him on his way. He passed Merric and the man they extracted from the planet and stopped when he saw how bad the old man was. He was struck by a staff blast in the thigh and chest. 

Colt pretended to be much tougher than he was because it was the only way to blend in with a squad of Marines. Despite the pain meds his shoulder felt like it was still on fire, but looking at the old man he wondered how he was still alive after taking two direct hits with no armor. The doctors were treating him while Merric knelt beside him whispering into his ear. The old man was barely conscious, but he seemed to be whispering back. 

Colt scowled and moved on to the briefing room. Michael and the squad were already there. General Willis stopped to speak with a nurse before entering the room. Everyone stood up and sat down with the general. Ford started talking as soon as they sat down. 

"We arrived and met with our Jaffa contact, he gave us armor and staff weapons so we proceeded to the temple to extract Merric's contact. We took a different root back and when we arrived the gate it was being guarded. They had Merric's Jaffa contact. They beat him, but we knew he didn't give us because they were checking everyone. Merric tried to talk his way past them, but that failed and we shot our way through the gate. His contact was killed in the crossfire." 

"I'm glad to see that your team is intact," General Willis said. 

"I got shot," Colt said pointing to his shoulder. 

Ford put Colt's arm back on the table without looking away from the general. "Sir, do we know who Merric's man was?"

"He was a Shasue spy that was deep cover and he has a great deal of information that we need access to, but there is a problem. His host is not going to live out the night, and if we lose him we lose the agent and all the information."

"You're not asking for a host are you?" Ford asked carefully. 

"No. The arrangement that we made with the Tok'ra was voluntary hosts only."

Merric sat on a stool beside the old man's bed holding his hand.

"Who is he?" Michael asked, standing at the foot of the bed. 

"An old friend," Merric said looking up. "His name is Torin. He's our top strategist. He's been able to move all across the Goa'uld empire without being noticed. He was a master at creating tension between the System Lords to keep them fighting. He probably started more wars than anyone in the galaxy."

"Sounds like my kind of guy," Michael smiled, walking closer to Merric and looking at the old man's wounds. "He's not going to live out the night is he?"

"No."

"If he had a new host, would he survive?"

"Most likely, but no one has come forward to volunteer for a blending."

"What's it like? Two minds in one head?"

"Well, you're never alone, but that's not a bad thing. We have conversations that no one ever hears. We tell each other stories. Balin knows everything about me and I know everything about him. It's the closest relationship you can ever have. Balin was married for fifteen years before we blended, but this is closer than that." 

"You're not still married?"

"She was killed sixty seven years ago. Balin volunteered to blend the next day." 

"Did you get your revenge?" 

"The Tok'ra try to be above revenge."

"But you got it anyway, didn't you."

"..."

"Yeah. That I understand." 

"What about you? Why are you here?"

"I've started my fair share of wars, and my world is much smaller than the Goa'uld Empire. Eventually everyone knew my name. In my line of work that means it's time to stop. Then I got picked for this. Thousands of new worlds to operate on."

"You like your job."

"When you do the job long enough, there is nothing else."

"No wife? No children?" 

"No time." 

"Is that what your really asking about? What are you, forty years old?"

"Forty two."

"And you're wondering how much longer you could live?"

"Well, operate." 

"You could easily live another hundred and twenty years. If you can avoid getting shot better than him, maybe one hundred and fifty. Is that what you wanted to hear? How much trouble could you cause in a hundred years?"

"A lot. I'll do it."

"Do you need to speak to your general?" 

"I'm confident he would say yes. What do I do?"

"Come and give him a kiss." 

"Now you're just messing with me." 

"The symbiote leaves and enters through the mouth."

"Shit. Then what?"

"Torin will do the rest."

Mike stepped beside the old man and looked down. He took a deep breath, leaned over and put his mouth on the old man. When the symbiote sprang up into his mouth it felt much larger than it was. Mike choked as it snaked down his throat. His knees buckled and he passed out. 

Mike woke up on a bed beside the dead old man. His throat felt horse and his neck felt swollen and stiff. General Willis, Sgt. Ford and Merric stood around the bed looking at him. 

"You dumb bastard," Ford said, with a faint smile. 

"Don't listen to him. You made the right decision. You and I can do a great deal of good for the galaxy."

"What?" Mike said, out loud.

"I said you're a dumb..."

"No, not you."

"We haven't been formally introduced, I'm Torin."

"That's going to take some getting used to," Mike said to himself. 

"He's talking to you isn't he?" Merric asked.

"Yeah. It's weird."

"You'll get comfortable with it quickly." 

"While you're doing that can you tell us what information he had?" General Willis asked.

"Wow, he's got a ton of information in here...yeah I'll tell them," Michael said to himself as he shut his eyes tightly. 

"When you're ready to debrief let me know," Willis said, before he walked away. 

Two hours later Michael sat at the computer and quickly typed out a ten thousand word report and emailed it to Willis. As soon as he was done he got up and went to the general's office, stopping right in front of his desk. 

"You're symbiote doesn't know how to knock?" Willis asked, without looking up from the report he was writing. 

"Yes Sir, sorry Sir, but you need to see this now," Michael said. "I emailed you my preliminary report based on what Torin had to say." 

Willis put his pen down while staring at Michael. Then he turned to his computer and pulled up the email. He skimmed it for a moment. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Briefing room in ten," Willis said as he got up and turned to his assistant. "Go get SG 10." 

Ten minutes later SG 10 sat in the briefing room across from Michael waiting for Willis to speak. "Michael has provided us with an unbelievable amount of actionable intelligence. One of our highest priorities has been to find and recover as much Naquadah as we can. Michael has given us the address for a mine. The mine you are going to today is supposed to be the least guarded one on the list. Torin says it's nearly mined out, and that means there are very few Jaffa guarding it."

"How few?" Ford asked Michael.

"Fifteen or twenty. Just enough to keep the locals scared and mining," Torin answered in the deep nasally voice of a Tok'ra. 

"What's the objective?" Ford asked Willis.

"Eliminate the Jaffa, secure the mine."

"Absolutely," Ford said confidently.

"Alright," Willis nodded as he stood up. Everyone stood with him. "You leave in an hour." 

As they stood in front of the shimmering gate Colt pulled his head side to side to crack his neck. He always did it before he went through the gate. 

"How's it look?" Ford asked. 

Colt pulled the screen on his chest down and tuned into the probe they just sent through. He swept the camera side to side. "Gate's clear. There's no one around." 

Colt secured the computer on his chest. He nodded to Ford, and they all went through in formation. On the other side it was early morning. Colt let out a whispered 'Woo' under his breath as he crept down the stairs. They spread out and set up a perimeter around the gate. 

"Alright Colt, send it back," Ford said. Colt nodded and dialed the base. Once the MALP was back and the gate closed, they followed Michael into the forest. It was a two hour hike through dense woodlands trying to move slowly and quietly until they came upon a small village in front of a mine. They stayed a few meters back in the tree line as they observed the people in the village. 

There were only five Jaffa visible, and they did very little to harass the locals. It was clear that the villagers already feared them, and did everything they could not cross them. Ford smiled to himself as he watched through his binoculars. It meant the Jaffa were comfortable and complacent. 

Ford sent Ward, Madison, and Jefferson along the tree line just short of the path that lead away from the village into the forest. Ford signaled Michael and Colt to move in closer. "We move in and neutralize as many Jakes as we can, and then we fall back to the path and lead the rest to it. Watch your fire and try to avoid the locals."

"Jakes?" Michael asked.

"Jaffa," Ford explained. Michael nodded. 

They moved up to the edge of the tree line and then up behind a hand drawn cart. After that Colt and Michael followed behind Ford and two seconds later yellow plasma blast buzzed past Colt's head. Jaffa weapons were incredibly destructive, but they lacked accuracy. They lacked the optics that every human rifle had. With enough experience you could charge them and survive. When Ford felt they had made an impression he signaled the retreat.

They leapfrogged back until they hit the path and then ran. Nine Jaffa followed them into the forest. Ten meters up the path Ward triggered the claymores. Jefferson and Madison put down any that weren't killed in the initial blast. When Ford returned they quickly checked that all the Jaffa were dead and then returned to the village. They swept it to make sure there were no more Jaffa while bringing all the locals in front of the mine.

"People of this world, we are the Tau'ri," Ford said loudly to the frightened crowd. "We are enemies of the Goa'uld. We will not hurt you. You are free and we will do our best to make sure that you stay that way. My men and I are going to talk to you and then you will be free to return to your lives."

A hunched and shaky old man at the head of the crowd smiling and crying he put his arms around Ford and wept. Ford tried not to frown as he put his arm around the old man. They spent the next two hours talking to the people of the village before Ford sent Ward and Colt back to the gate to check in. 

"General Willis," Colt said, into the computer he had strapped to his chest. He looked down at the general. "We have neutralized the Jakes and secured the mine. The locals have agreed to work with us as long as we don't beat them, whip them, and or kill them. I took the liberty of promising that we wouldn't do that."

"Outstanding work gentlemen. Report back in twenty four hours."

"Yes, Sir," The gate closed and Colt secured his computer. "Alright Ward, let's head back to the village and see what passes for food here." 

"How long do you think we're going to be sitting on the world?"

"Naquadah is literally a billion dollars a pound, we're going to be sitting here as long as the general wants us to," Colt said.

"Michael, I mean Torin, said the mine was just about dry."

"And these guys have been using picks and shovels. For this, Earth will be sending in the best miners in the world and squeezing ever single rock on the planet. We have methods far better than the locals so we may be able to get a lot more from the mine."

"Cool."

"Besides, if it is a naturally occurring element on this planet there may be more veins in other places."

Two days later there were twenty four more Marines on the planet. A day after that a team of scientists arrived to evaluate the mine. A week later a team of miners were hard at work upgrading the mine. It produced very little Naquadah, but it was giving up a great deal of information. By the end of the second month there was an iris built onto the gate. The Army Corps of Engineers set up permanent housing for the miners, scientists, and standing guard on the planet. They offered housing for the villagers but they declined based on their culture of independence.


End file.
